Once they were outside, Ashildr stopped Clara by catching up with her, still holding the map in her left hand.
"Did you see that?" said Ashildr, glancing back nervously towards the information centre.
"See what?" said Clara, confused, "what were you on about in there?"
"Tim's hologram turned into a woman, with long blonde hair, in a navy shirt. She looked at you and pointed at me, saying they'd found us. Then as we were leaving, all of the... Tims... were staring at me," she said without pausing for breath.
"Come on, all of the Tims were not staring at you," dismissed Clara, stepping away from her. "He was talking about the maps. You're not having much luck with the holograms today are you?" she laughed.
"I definitely saw it change," stated Ashildr loudly, "why won't you believe me?"
"Because we've turned up on a random day, nothing is going to happen, we are here to get some clothes, maybe a few drinks, maybe some food and then we'll go back," Clara said as she walked. "This is a day out, we're not going to need to save the world or stop some sort of nuclear attack or anything. That is not the sort of thing we are going to do, we are just going to find a few cool things to look at and then move on."
"What happened to all of this," Ashildr said, "expect the unexpected?" She put the red map into her right pocket.
"That rule still stands," said Clara. "But what trouble are we going to get in whilst we are-" Clara stopped still, distracted and paced to her left, holding out her left arm to stop Ashildr.
"What?" said Ashildr, looking around.
"Shut... up!" exclaimed Clara, pacing slowly towards the front of a nearby shop. "No way."
Ashildr saw what had caught her eye. There was a large white video screen in the window of the shop that stretched for as far as she could see in the distance in front of her. People were standing close staring and pointing all the way along. Large figures were striding along the entire height of the fifty foot high hoarding, but Clara was looking directly at a mirror image of herself wearing a completely different set of clothes. The reflection was wearing high heels and a suit, her hair was styled differently. Clara put her right hand up to the marginally taller image, and then pulled away, impressed.
"Why am I not surprised you were distracted by an image of yourself?" said Ashildr snidely.
"You're on here too," said Clara, pointing to the screen, as she turned around to look at herself from the back. "I like this, I like this... a lot."
Ashildr turned to look at her reflected image. The slightly shorter version was wearing something that she would have preferred to have been, decent shoes, a leather jacket, a few layers of t-shirts and jumpers. Her hair and make-up were different than she had seen before. It mirrored her every movement, the clothes creased and fell naturally.
Clara moved backwards a couple of paces and the reflection increased in size, she laughed to herself, stepping forward again. "You have got to be kidding me," she said loudly. "How the hell are they doing that?"
"I don't know," said Ashildr, not seeing any obvious cameras or a way of scanning her.
"It's like they've put the clothes and hair from a model in a magazine onto my body. Is that why they were scanning us earlier maybe?" Clara thought out loud whilst still admiring herself in the suit. "I don't know what is going on, but all I know I want this outfit. What do you think?"
"Yeah, it's nice," Ashildr said distracted as she went forward be a foot away from her image, a rectangle with the outfit gradually appeared to her right, along with a red square that said 'BUY' and '4485TCC/768GBP' below. She stepped away and it disappeared slowly.
"Nice? No, no, no, Me, this is a Gucci suit," Clara sighed as she was standing in front of her image, hovering her hand over the buy button. "This whole outfit is £1200," Clara gasped excitedly. "I don't think I've ever bought anything that expensive before, but I want it," she said, eyes glinting. "Wonder what happens if I actually buy it? Will it ask me for a size?" she raised an eyebrow, tilted her head and pressed the button. A small black hole appeared where the button had been. There was a red arrow and the word 'TAG' above, Clara inserted her hand and a message appeared on the screen. 'Articles will be printed to your requirements and delivered to your vehicle upon return.'
"What?" said Clara. "Are they serious? I don't even have to carry it around?" Clara laughed.
"Impressive," nodded Ashildr in agreement.
Clara noticed the entrance to the shop a little further along and moved towards it. The screen was displaying another outfit for her, a beige trench coat, dark blue jeans, white shirt and brown boots. Her hair was styled up and the image reflected the way she held her hands in the pockets. "This screen is like my own personal stylist, isn't it?" Clara said, stopping and looking at herself, lifting the collar of the jacket. "Wow. I want this too." She pressed the buy button.
"What is wrong with you?" said Ashildr, derisively, ignoring the new ensemble the screen had picked for her.
Clara grabbed Ashildr's arm and marched her inside, like a child in a sweet shop.
There was a twenty foot wide walkway that went perpendicularly inside the store on their left with the same screens on either side. The floor and ceiling fifty feet above were covered in glittering black marble. Clara looked either side of her and saw two different outfits, changing every five or six paces or so as she progressed inside.
"Think of all the changing I'm not having to do!" said Clara. She bought another couple of outfits as she moved through. "I want to live here in this place."
"Yeah," said Ashildr, not seeing anything she liked yet. "Don't you think we should wait until after midnight? It's only an hour or so away?"
"That..." Clara stood still and pointed at her, looking away, "that is an excellent point," Clara conceded. "God this is going to be difficult!"
The walkway extended a hundred metres inside before turning right at a ninety degree angle. Clara was unable to see the end once they turned the corner, seeing only hundreds of people observing outfits. It appeared to be personalised as each person was wearing different clothes as she went past.
"Come on Me, you should have seen something you like by now?" Clara turned to walk with her, they were both wearing different outfits on either side. "What about this?"
Ashildr surveyed the outfit presented. It was a tied up black leather trench coat, ankle boots, a white shirt, dark red trousers and a dark blue bag. "It's not bad I suppose."
"Not bad you suppose? That's all you are giving me?" said Clara, folding her arms. Her reflection in a dark green prom dress and white stilettos did the same.
"Yeah," sighed Ashildr, her pose reminding her of seeing the two holograms again., "I've spent a long time alone, I told you, not much call for this in five billion years. How can you be so materialistic?"
"What can I say, we are living in a material world and I am a material girl, Me," Clara grinned, knowing she wouldn't get the reference.
Ashildr creased her eyebrows, confused, "who said that? Was it Shakespeare?"
"Sort of," Clara said playfully.
"Oh, ok. This is just... odd." Ashildr reviewed the clothes again, turning around to see a red dress and black tights ensemble like Clara's current clothing on the image behind her. "I don't like this," she pointed, "a little too similar to what you usually go around in."
"Yeah, it is a bit," Clara agreed. "But I like that dress."
"Of course you do," Ashildr said sarcastically. "Ok, I'll get this," she pointed in front, if only to subdue Clara, finding her distracted several paces away. She stepped up to the screen and the buy button appeared, she pressed it and then placed her hand inside the scanner. Her image changed to that of the blonde woman she had seen at the information point, mirroring her every movement. She was wearing a navy blue shirt and a grey skirt. Her green eyes bore a hole into Ashildr as her bright red lips smirked. "Clara!" Ashildr called out loudly. A message asking for another tag for payment was being displayed. The woman continued to stare her out.
"Yes?" said Clara, directing her attention over whilst looking at the screen.
"Come here! Quickly!" said Ashildr. "That woman is back!"
Clara reluctantly strode over, seeing Ashildr stood stock still, pointing at the screen.
Ashildr stood pointing, as Clara approached the image it thankfully didn't change. Ashildr folded her arms and pointed with a finger.
"What the-" said Clara. "Who the hell is that?" The image snapped back to Ashildr as she blinked.
"See, I told you!" said Ashildr, smugly. "Tim changed into that woman. I told you!"
"OK, I believe you," Clara apologised quickly, under her breath.
"What was that? I didn't quite hear you?" Ashildr held up her left hand to her ear and put her right hand on her hip. "It sounded like an apology, but I can't be sure."
"I'm sorry, OK? I believe you now," Clara said at a normal volume, tilting her head.
"Thank you," acknowledged Ashildr with a nod, she then paused. "And as you are currently feeling so generous, you also need to pay for this," she cast her hand around her image, smirking. Clara shook her head and narrowed her eyes to the floor, putting her right hand into the machine.